Bad things come in 3's, right?

I'm so glad the last 7 days are over. They have been very trying on me, both mentally and physically, with working so much, and the cold, and then yesterday the January thaw started. It was 8C, and sunny, and a whole shit load of snow was melting. We have a lot of snow this year. So yesterday I got to the farm from work, to find this lovely mess.

Two stalls were completely under about 2" of water, and two more were half under water. So. Much. Wasted. Shavings. I started shoveling around the barn, moving snow, clearing paths for water to flow, and praying that the water would drain before tonight, when we're supposed to have a flash freeze (this morning was 6C, now it's -1C). I slogged through tons of water, pulled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of soaked shavings out, and got things finished. Then I went to the house and cried. I don't cry often, but man, I was so damn tired and nothing seems to be going right this week.

This morning was a snow day, so I took Piper with me to the farm, picked up a siphon pump on the way, thinking if there was still water I would try and siphon it out. Thankfully, all the water had drained out. The mats were all wet still throughout the entire barn, but at least there were no puddles. The fan is on and hopefully will help dry things up.

Piper and I got out for a hack this morning while it was warm, and it felt so good to be on Lily again. This afternoon I went for a massage, given to me for Christmas by one of my awesome borders, and it was awesome.

Next week WILL be a good week!

The best donkey ears <3

The Polar Vortex from Hell

We've finally had a break from the extreme cold, thank god, because I am absolutely exhausted. Today was only -10, which felt so good after -30 to -40 temperatures for the last 3 days.

Thursday I worked a 12 hour shift at the local feed store. The extra money is nice after Christmas and since I used to work there, I'm pretty savvy with most things. I got to the farm to feed just after 8pm, and it was something stupid like -38 with the wind chill. Everyone seemed okay, but got extra blankets, and I left the ponies and the paint mare (Sierra) that goes out with them inside, since they don't have a big shelter, and it was supposed to be even colder all night. I got home at 10:30 that night and stood in a steaming shower for a good 20 min before I could feel my ass and legs. Stupid me forgot my insulated overalls.

Friday morning was still stupid cold, and I was working in the office, so dad took care of things at the farm and left the ponies and Sierra in for the day. They weren't too excited to go out anyways. One of my boarders texted me mid-morning to say that her mare and two others were shivering outside, so she brought them in too. Stupid Vinnie was standing in the doorway to the run in and wouldn't let anyone else inside. That night, the ponies and Sierra went back out, and I left the 4 mares and Vinnie in. I don't normally leave anyone in, but they were all so cold. It's so much more work to leave them in though, which added on quite a bit of extra chore time to an already long day of work. I got home late again, I think it was 9PM, and I just could not warm up.

Saturday morning, everyone went back out, but my dad called me to tell me there had been an accident with Sierra where she had been scared by a round bale being put into the feeder and had run into the tractor. Insert eyes rolling here. Why do horses have to do the stupidest things on the coldest day of the freaking year?! I rushed down to the farm to meet Sierra's owner and my poor father who was beside himself. We agreed it needed to be stitched and called the vet. It took me about 4 hours to do the extra work from everyone being inside, as well as keeping an eye on Sierra, until the vet came. Luckily, my dad let us set up in his heated shop to stitch her up, as it was just so damn cold out that the meds would have frozen while we were working on the mare. My vet did an awesome job stitching Sierra up, with two layers of stitches.

Before

Beautiful stitch job!

I was so exhausted, and I still am. You don't realize how much the cold takes out of you until you work outside in it constantly. I'm so looking forward to more normal temperatures this week, including a couple days above zero towards the end of the week! Hopefully no more hurt ponies!

WHY DOES THE AIR HURT MY FACE?!

Nothing super exciting has been going on lately; it's been so fucking cold, like an average of -20 C, that about all I do is go to the barn to feed and make sure everyone is warm and alive and that nothing has broken or frozen and go back to the house. Add in some grooming because they are all soooo itchy in their million blankets required to keep them warm. Oh, and the occasional sewing of rips because my horses are assholes and don't appreciate nice stuff. That about sums it up.

On the bright side, there are only two more months until March, which means spring, which means I can go outside without the air hurting my face. Which is a plus, and I'm super excited for that. I'm sure the horses are too, because they are like Michelin men with their blankets on right now.

The holidays were crazy, as always, with the kids and 4 Christmases and all that jazz. It was nice though, I enjoyed my break from work and caught up on my sleep (like, a lot of catching up on sleep). I went back to work yesterday, picked up some extra work at the local feed store, and I'm dreaming of being debt-free (that's not gonna happen with horses) and riding again.

Enjoy some pictures of my Thoroughbreds. I have decided I have an addiction, but I'm okay with it.

Zippy, aka Mr. Photogenic

Lily, aka. Ms. Unphotogenic

Tom, who must put his mouth on everything

Bella, Ms. Beautiful